disrupting myself, or the jump from Product Marketing to Product Management

The power of second opinions: Reflections from a game of Acquire

If you’ve not heard of the board game Acquire, here’s a quick intro: hotels, shares, mergers, most money wins.

If that didn’t help, that’s alright – the point of this post was to reflect on the particular game. It was my first time being a Hotel-magnate-wannabe, but I managed to come in second out of four players, where all other players were relatively seasoned.

This is not to boast, but rather point out a significant factor in my performance: I sat next to the banker, who was also completely new to the game. No, he didn’t squirrel me money, but was a second pair of eyes; questioning my moves and bouncing off ideas. Most of the steps I took were still mine, but he made me think twice at some critical junctures, which helped me think ahead and affirm my moves.

The lesson? Get a second opinions in your decision-making. Even if you don’t agree or follow the advice (and you should be careful not to blindly follow advice), a second opinion helps you think through decisions – reinforcing them, or tuning you in to an aspect that wasn’t immediately obvious. Just don’t be too proud to change your mind.